Professional Farmer 2017 review

Average

We cover all sorts of titles at ThisIsXbox, for some reason everyone goes quiet when I offer out certain types of games which means they are left with yours truly to review.

Never underestimate how difficult life can be for a farmer, the long hours the sometimes awful conditions and if you are in the UK, the rubbish weather to contend with, thanks to Professional Farmer 2017 I don’t have to get my hands too dirty, but it’s still pretty stressful.

Having reviewed the past two Farming Simulator titles 2015 & 2016 I was interested to see what the Professional Farmer series would do differently.

It’s always worth playing through a tutorial, especially with a game type you are unfamiliar with. The tutorial is around 30 mins long and takes you through the basics of the game quite well. You’ll be shown how to operate the different machinery in the game, as well as how to make money from your crops and animals.

Once you are ready, you can begin the single player campaign. Unlike Farming simulator there is just the one farm to play in. It’s deserted too, so either zombies are coming or the devs just didn’t bother adding any sort of life to the town… You start with a $250k which will set you on your way, whether you decide to start buying fields to grow crops or animals including sheep, cows chickens and pigs. I started by buying myself a swanky new tractor and more pigs than anyone person should need. You’ll also need to take fuel into consideration as it costs a lot.

Visiting the town centre allows you to buy and sell all sorts of produce, whether you are purchasing new animals for your farm or seeds to grow crops which will allow you to sell in the future. FS2017 also brings weather into consideration, allowing you to see the forecast in advance allowing you to prioritise how you’ll manage your crops. You can also fast forward time if you wish. There isn’t a huge range of equipment to buy, certainly a lot less than the Farming Sim titles but you can experience a wide enough range of farming disciplines during your career. FS2017 gives you the ability to repaint your vehicles in pretty much any colour you can create, if that’s your thing.

One of the biggest frustrations in the game was the amount of time you spent watching loading screens, call it Loading Simulator if you will. The map isn’t huge so the amount of time waiting for the different areas to load should be a lot smaller. Graphically, it’s a good enough looking game, the vehicles seem to operate as you would expect, though when tipping out grain for example it’s there one minute and gone the next. The audio is as you would expect too, the background music lulls you into your farming ways without a care in the world.

Professional Framer 2017 has made improvements on the previous titles but doesn’t match the standard of the Farming Simulator games. The loading screens take way too long and everything feels sterile, ruining the immersion. If you really want a farming title in your life, you’ll no doubt have fun playing this, but there is no harm shopping around either.